Detroit once hosted a groundbreaking
and dynamic sales conference. Its mission was to promote the dignity of sales-manship and thousands of representatives
showed up, including top executives from
Ford, NCR and Cadillac.
Another leader in attendance was the 28th
president of the United States, Woodrow
Wilson. The year was 1916.
“We’ve been talking about improving the
image of the sales profession for over a 100
years,” says Dr. Terry Loe, associate professor, Kennesaw State University. “Finally,
thanks to the movement in business and
higher education to get people trained in the
area of sales, I think we’re going to make a
difference.”
Smart Business spoke with Loe about how
the best companies are training their sales
forces and how the latest iteration of college
marketing graduates may help vanquish the
negative stigmas attache to the sales
profession.
What foundations of selling will always be
relevant?
It’s not a shock that when we’re talking
about selling, we’re talking about communication and persistence. Notably, a recent
study — a meta-analysis of earlier studies —
came up with 114 different variables that had
an impact on sales, and not one of them
accounted for more than 10 percent.
Adaptability was high on the list as a key trait
that deals with critical thinking skills and
problem-solving skills to provide solutions.
What spawned the negative stigmas attached to
selling?
The first peddlers, at least in the U.S., went
from town to town with their cart, bringing
news, information and products. People
loved to see them. But when the industrial
revolution spawned the mass production of
goods, companies realized that just because
you had product, it didn’t mean it was going
to fly off the shelves. So, quotas were developed and salespeople were asked to push
their products. In the 1960s and 1970s, it no
longer worked to con or manipulate somebody, so companies had to start looking more
at what the customers wanted and needed.
Meanwhile, nobody really trained the sales-people. Companies gave them a lot of product knowledge and sent them off to get people to buy their goods. That’s pretty much the
genesis of why we have a lot of the stereotypes we have now.
What trend is demanding even more from sales-people?
Companies, rather than having dozens and
dozens of suppliers and vendors, are now
cutting that number by 50 to 75 percent. So
instead of spreading it out, they’re cutting
down to fewer relationships with companies
they can trust.
How are the best companies increasing the skills
and ethics of their sales teams?
Normally, companies bring in salespeople
and then give them weeks of product knowledge training, without ever helping them to
understand basic sales skills. The best companies are actually teaching their sales force
the selling process and how to improve it,
including how to prospect, how to communicate to better understand the customer and
how to break down barriers to communication to better help the customer. In any relationship, including marriage, you’re going to have a good relationship if you understand
the other person because then you can help
to meet his or her needs.
Why should CEOs take a closer look at sales?
Companies tend to view their sales force
the same as they do other employees. But
salespeople are in a uniqu situation —
they’re the boundary spanners, the people
who have the most contact with customers,
and they’re the ones in the public eye. They
represent the company, they represent the
product, and they represent the industry. The
CEOs and leaders who understand this do a
good job of making sure their salespeople are
representing them in a manner that is beneficial not only to the business-client relationship, but to their public image as well. That
tone starts at the top and must be communicated not only to sales, but also to marketing,
accounting and every other aspect in the
firm.
How are colleges and universities changing the
face of sales?
Our corporate partners are telling us that
they are looking for businesspeople who can
read their customers’ business statements
and understand their balance sheets so they
can help them do their business. That’s
where the companies are going now, and
that’s what we’re teaching. Prior to 1994 there
were hardly any universities who taught
sales. It was mentioned in marketing classes
but was never considered a viable pursuit for
learning. The facts are that about 75 percent
of all marketing majors coming out of universities go into sales. With that kind of pressure from the market to provide sales candidates, we’ve gone from one or two universities with sales centers and sales programs to
12 with sales centers, and many more with a
sales curriculum. Now, students are learning
the sales process, and learning it in a way that
will enhance the integrity, professionalism
and character of the sales profession.
TERRY W. LOE, Ph.D., is associate professor, director, Center
for Professional Selling, and director, National Collegiate Sales
Competition, Kennesaw State University. Reach him at (678) 797-2017 or [email protected].